Most tewephone companies now awso function as internet service providers (ISPs), and de distinction between a tewephone company and an ISP may disappear compwetewy over time, as de current trend for suppwier convergence in de industry continues.[4]

ComedianLiwy Tomwin freqwentwy satirized de tewephone industry (and de country's den-dominant Beww System in particuwar) wif a skit pwaying de tewephone operator Ernestine. Ernestine, who became one of Tomwin's trademark characters, was perhaps most famous for de fowwowing wine: "We don't care; we don't have to. We're de phone company."